Milwaukee Repertory Theater Presents April 12 - May 8, 2011 Quadracci Powerhouse By Arthur Miller
This study guide is researched and designed by the Education Department at Milwaukee Repertory Theater and is intended to prepare you for your visit. It contains information that will deepen your understanding and appreciation of the production. We‘ve also included questions and activities for you to explore before and after our performance of DEATH OF A SALESMAN.
INSIDE THIS GUIDE If you would like to schedule a classroom workshop, or if we can help in any other way, Synopsis 2 please contact Who‘s Who 5 Jenny Kostreva at 414-290-5370 or [email protected] Vocabulary 5 Rebecca Witt at 414-290-5393 or About the Author 6 [email protected]
First Rehearsal Notes 8 Study Guide Created By The American Dream 10 Rebecca Witt, Education Coordinator Miller‘s Inspiration for Salesman 12 With Contributions From An Interview With Lee E. Ernst, Actor 14 Cindy Moran, Public Relations Director Visiting The Rep 16 and Goodman Theatre
Weekday Matinees Edited By April 19, 10:30 am April 27, 1:30 pm Jenny Kostreva, Education Director (Student Matinee only) May 4, 12:00 pm Tamara Hauck, Director of Corporate April 20, 1:30 pm (Rep Immersion Day) and Foundation Relations
NOTE: Death of a Salesman contains brief adult language. Page 2 SYNOPSIS
*Spoiler Alert: This synopsis contains crucial plot because Biff is well-liked and Bernard is not. points. After Bernard leaves, Willy and Linda discuss how much Willy made from sales. They realize All Costume Renderings were drawn by Rachel that it‘s not quite enough to pay the bills, but Healy, Costume Designer. know that they will get by somehow. Linda Death of a Salesman is a memory play: it takes continues to talk, but Willy‘s memories begin to place in the present and in the past. The action blend together and The Woman enters. We see begins in Brooklyn at the home of Willy Loman, a brief encounter between The Woman and an aging salesman who has just returned from a Willy. We hear snippets of Linda, Bernard and road trip. Willy is having difficulty remembering The Woman laughing until Willy is events and distinguishing the brought back to the present when difference between the present and Happy comes down the stairs. the past. Seeing Willy‘s exhaustion, As Happy checks in on Willy, Charley, Linda, his wife, suggests that he their neighbor comes over to check on request a job in New York rather than Willy. Charley sends Happy back to travel each week to Boston. bed and Charley suggests that he and Biff and Happy, their sons, are Willy play a game of cards. While awoken by Linda and Willy playing cards, Uncle Ben appears to conversing. The scene shifts to them Willy and he relives an old and they discuss their lives and conversation with Ben while whether or not they have been simultaneously talking with Charley. successful. Happy brags that he has Willy becomes confused by the two had many women. Biff wonders why different discussions and accuses Willy is so hard on him. Happy tells Biff Charley of cheating. Charley leaves that many times when Willy talks to and Willy continues to speak with Ben. himself he is usually talking to Biff. Biff We go into a flashback when Willy admits that he isn‘t sure what he Costume introduces Ben to Linda, Biff and wants from life, but believes that Rendering for Happy and they talk about Ben‘s something is out there for him. He Willy Loman. enterprise in Africa. Willy, jealous of his brings up the idea of going to see his brother, tries to show off by sending Biff old boss, Bill Oliver, and asking him for and Happy to a construction site to a loan in order to buy a ranch out West. Happy steal materials to rebuild the deck right in front and Biff overhear Willy talking to himself. The of Ben. Willy asks him to stay for a few days, but boys decide to go to bed and the lights shift to Ben leaves to catch a train. Willy in the kitchen. We come back to the present as Linda As Willy makes a sandwich, he speaks with Biff in interrupts Willy‘s dream. Willy asks Linda about the past and we go back to a time when Biff is his diamond watch-fob and she tells him that he getting ready for a football game. Willy tells Biff pawned it many years before to put Biff through and Happy about his trips as Bernard, their a radio correspondence course. Willy decides neighbor‘s son, comes in. Bernard is a meek and to go take a walk and leaves the kitchen. Biff mild young boy with his mind constantly on and Happy come down the stairs and ask Linda school. Bernard tells Willy that Biff is failing math what is going on. Linda tells them not to worry and will not graduate unless his scores improve. too much, but also say that it would be good for Unfortunately, Willy dismisses this important news Willy if they both settled down. Linda tells them Page 3 that Willy is on straight commission happened, Ben comes to him in and has been borrowing money from another memory. Ben offers Willy a Charley in order to pay the bills. She job in Alaska. Willy wants to do this; also tells them that Willy is suicidal and however, Linda enters and feels that has been keeping a rubber hose it isn‘t the right thing to do. Willy, attached to the water heater. Biff is believing that Biff will be successful appalled by this, but also realizes that enough on his own to support the he may not have been the best son. Lomans, turns down Ben. We transition to another memory of the Willy overhears his wife and sons Lomans getting ready for Biff's last talking and comes back to the football game. While packing up, kitchen. Biff states that people have Charley comes over to see what all been laughing at Willy for years and the hustle and bustle is about, even Willy tells Biff to go back West. Happy though he knows they‘re getting tries to calm the situation and tells ready for the big game. Willy that Biff has a plan to open his Costume own business and to visit his old boss. Rendering for The memory fades into reality as Willy Willy is overjoyed by this initiative and Linda Loman. arrives at Charley‘s office. Bernard is tells Biff how to act during the there visiting Charley before he meeting. They all begin believing that things are leaves for Washington, D.C. While waiting, Willy starting to look up until Biff yells at Willy for and Bernard discuss why Biff has problems treating Linda poorly. Willy and Linda head to committing to a job. Bernard tells Willy that Biff bed to discuss their hopes for Biff‘s future. changed right after high school when he visited Meanwhile, we see Biff remove the rubber hose Willy in Boston. Bernard questions Willy about that Willy has hidden. what happened in Boston and Willy becomes defensive. After Bernard leaves, Willy speaks We begin Act II the next morning with Willy with Charley; he has come back to ask for more preparing to visit his boss, Howard. Willy realizes money to pay the bills. Willy tells Charley that that he is getting old and he wants to get a job Howard fired him and Charley offers Willy a job. selling in New York. Linda tells Willy that Happy Willy again refuses and leaves. and Biff would like him to meet them for dinner at Frank‘s Chophouse at six o‘clock. We then travel to Frank‘s Chophouse We see Willy leave and then enter where Happy is waiting for Willy and Howard‘s office. Howard shows Willy a Biff. While there, he speaks with wire recorder, a new technology that Stanley, a waiter, and flirts with a records sound, and plays various things young woman. Biff joins Happy and for him, including his daughter whistling tells him that Oliver did not remember and his son reciting the capitals of him and that he stole a pen from the states. Willy confronts Howard about office. Before Willy arrives, Happy tries traveling and says that he is not able to persuade Biff to tell Willy that things to do to it anymore. Howard says that went well; however, Biff wants to tell he has no job in New York for Willy. the truth. After Willy arrives, he tells his Willy persists and reminds Howard that sons that he has been fired. Biff tries to he named him and that he was a very tell Willy what happened earlier in the successful salesman when he worked day, but Willy keeps misunderstanding for Howard's father. Howard says that the truth. Biff gets angry with him and things must move forward and fires explains he stole Oliver‘s pen and Willy. didn't meet with him. Willy once again Costume blends the present with the past and As Willy tries to comprehend what has Rendering for remembers the time when Bernard told Biff Loman. Page 4
Linda that Biff had failed math and During this memory, Willy does not would not graduate. Willy remembers remember a conversation with Ben, when Biff came to Boston and as Willy but makes up a new conversation comes to the present again, he leaves instead. They discuss his plan to the table and goes to the bathroom. commit suicide, and Ben warns Willy Biff and Happy argue about whose that the insurance company might fault it is that Willy is having these refuse to pay a settlement if he does problems and Biff storms out. Happy this, and Biff might never forgive him. casually walks out with two young Biff comes outside and tells Willy that women. he is leaving home for good. Biff and Willy argue and Biff confronts Willy In the bathroom, Willy relives Biff‘s with the rubber hose, saying he will surprise visit. After failing math, Biff not pity him if he commits suicide. Biff went to Boston to tell Willy that he believes that the Lomans have never would not graduate from high school been truthful with one another or unless they could convince his Costume themselves and that they are just teacher to pass him. During this Willy Rendering for ordinary people who can be attempts to hide The Woman in the Happy Loman. replaced. Finally, Biff breaks down bathroom, but she comes out while crying and tells Willy that he will leave Biff is in the room. Biff leaves in the morning. At that moment, Willy immediately and calls Willy a fake. realizes that Biff always loved him. As Willy comes back to the present and Linda tries to get Willy to bed, Ben Stanley tells him that his sons have left reappears and reminds him of the and will meet him at home. Willy asks insurance policy that would be left Stanley where he can buy seeds to behind if he dies. With this Willy gets in plant a garden and leaves. the car, drives away and crashes the Biff and Happy get home later that car. We are taken a few days into night and Linda questions them about the future where we see the Lomans, where they were. Happy tries to Charley and Bernard together at explain that they met two girls, but she Willy's grave. Linda comments that yells at them for leaving Willy at the there weren‘t a lot of people at the restaurant. Biff comes to his breaking funeral, but Charley reminds them all point and decides to confront Willy. that Willy was a great man. We are Linda tells him that Willy is planting a left with Linda telling Willy that the garden and Biff fully realizes that Willy Costume house is finally paid off and that they has lost his mind. While working on the Rendering for Ben. are finally free. garden, Willy imagines Ben again.
PRE-SHOW ACTIVITY: There are many flashbacks woven into the play. How do you think we‘ll travel between the past and present? How do you think that the staging or lighting will change for the flashbacks? Write down or draw out your ideas and share them with your classmates. Be sure to justify your artistic choices.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSION: Do you think that the transitions between present and past were effective? How were you able to tell what was in the present versus what was in the past? Discuss your ideas with your classmates. POST-SHOW DISCUSSION: The Lomans have a dynamic family with many ups and downs. How does your family compare with the Lomans? What events of their lives resonate with your life and family? Do you consider the Lomans an average American family? Discuss your thoughts with your classmates. Page 5 WHO’S WHO
Willy Loman - An insecure traveling salesman. Charley - Willy‘s neighbor. Charley owns a Willy believes in the American Dream. His mental successful business. Willy is jealous of Charley‘s health is unraveling and often his past blends with success, but takes money from Charley to pay his the present. bills. Willy admits that Charley is his only friend.
Linda Loman - Willy‘s loyal and loving wife. She Bernard - Bernard is Charley‘s son and a has kept the family together through everything successful lawyer. Bernard‘s success is difficult for and her strength and determination support Willy Willy to accept because his own sons‘ lives are until his downfall. not like Bernard‘s. Biff Loman - Willy‘s 34 year old son. Biff was a high The Woman - Willy‘s mistress when Happy and Biff school football star. Willy holds high expectations were in high school. The Woman gives Willy for Biff which he is unable to meet. He is still attention and admiration which boosts his ego, searching for his place in life. but leads to a falling out between him and Biff.
Happy Loman - Willy‘s 32 year old son. Happy has Howard Wagner - Willy‘s boss and son of the lived in Biff‘s shadow all of his life but original owner of the company. Willy named compensates for his lack of self-esteem by having Howard at his birth, but Howard treats Willy with multiple relationships. He works as an assistant at disregard and eventually fires him. a department store. Stanley - A waiter at Frank‘s Chop House. Ben - Willy‘s wealthy older brother who recently Miss Forsythe and Letta - Two young women died. Willy speaks to Ben frequently in daydreams. whom Happy and Biff meet at the restaurant. Willy considers Ben a symbol of success that he wants for himself and his sons. Jenny - Charley‘s secretary. VOCABULARY
Pompous: having the attitude of people who Spiting: deliberately annoying, upsetting or speak and behave in a very formal and serious hurting someone way because they believe that they are better, Saccharine: a type of sweetener smarter or more important than other people Red Grange: a famous football player for the Anemic: not strong or impressive; weak Chicago Bears Remiss: not showing enough care and attention Carte blanche: permission to do something in any Watch-fob: a short chain attached to a pocket way you choose to do it watch Louse: a bad or cruel person Philandering: having sexual relations with many Coolie: an unskilled Asian worker who is paid low women wages Valise: an old fashioned small suitcase Imbue: to cause (someone or something) to be Undercurrent: a hidden feeling or tendency that is deeply affected by a feeling or to have a certain usually different from the one that is easy to see or quality understand Ignoramus: a person who does not know Crestfallen: very sad and disappointed much; an ignorant or stupid person Page 6 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arthur Miller was a prominent figure in The next several years were difficult for Miller. In American literature and cinema for over 61 1944, he wrote The Man Who Had All the Luck years. Born October 17, 1915, Miller is which won the Theater Guild‘s National considered one of the greatest American Award, but only ran for six performances. He playwrights of all time. He was raised in also published his first novel Focus and Harlem, New York City until 1929 and then adapted George Abbott and John C. Holm‘s moved to Brooklyn with his family. Three Men on a Horse for the radio. Both were opened to little acclaim. Shortly after graduating Toward the end of the from high school in 1932, 1940s things started Miller attended the looking up for Miller. In University of Michigan 1947, All My Sons was and worked several small produced at the Coronet jobs in order to pay for Theater and ran for 328 tuition. He first majored in performances. It was journalism and became a directed by Elia Kazan, reporter and night editor with whom Miller would for The Michigan Daily, continue his professional the student paper. During and personal relationship, this time he also wrote his and it won the New York first work, No Villain, for Drama Critics Circle which he won the Avery Award as well as two Hopwood Award. Tony Awards. Despite its After receiving the success, many believed it was unpatriotic. award, Miller switched his major to English in order to further study ancient Greek dramas as In 1948, Miller built a small studio in Roxbury, well as the works of Henrik Ibsen. While Connecticut. This became his getaway, as well studying English, Miller wrote Honors at Dawn as his future home, and he wrote many pieces which also received the Avery Hopwood here including Death of a Salesman which Award. premiered in 1949 at the Morosco Theater in New York City. It was also directed by Kazan After graduating in 1938, Miller joined the and was a huge success, winning a Tony for Federal Theater Project, a New Deal agency Best Play, a New York Drama Critics‘ Award established to provide jobs in theater, despite and a Pulitzer Prize. It ran for 742 being offered a job as a scriptwriter for 20th performances. Century Fox. He felt it important to support the working man during the re-establishment of Soon after, Kazan was brought before the the American economy. With the Red Scare House Un-American Activities Committee and Communism becoming more threatening, (HUAC) and, in 1952, named eight people Congress shut down the project and Miller from the Group Theater who, in the 1930s, and began working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard while along with himself, had been members of the continuing to write radio plays. Two years later, American Communist Party. After Miller spoke he married Mary Slattery, the daughter of an with Kazan about his testimony, he ended the insurance salesman and his college friendship fearing he may also be brought sweetheart. before the committee. Miller then went to Page 7
Salem, Massachusetts to research the witch American president. He held this position for trials of 1692 and wrote The Crucible, a four years and is often credited as the one parable play in which he compared the who changed PEN from a mere literary group situation with HUAC to the witch hunts in to, what he called, ―the conscience of the Salem. The Crucible opened at the Beck world writing community.‖ Theater on Broadway in 1953, but was During the 1970s, Miller experimented a lot with considered unsuccessful at the time. However, theater, producing many one act plays today it is one of Miller‘s most frequently including Fame and The Reason Why. He also produced plays. traveled with his wife quite often and in 1983 In 1956, Miller and Mary Slattery divorced and went to China to direct Death of a Salesman not even a month later, he married Marilyn at the People‘s Art Theatre in Beijing. The play Monroe with whom he‘d had a brief affair was very successful and in 1984 Miller wrote several years prior. HUAC saw this and took Salesman in Beijing, a book about his advantage of the publicity and subpoenaed experiences in China. Three years later, Miller Miller to appear before the committee. Before published his memoirs and autobiography appearing, Miller asked the committee to not Timebends: A Life. ask him to name names and the chairman In the 1990s, Miller produced three new plays agreed. At the hearing, Miller gave a detailed and in 1997 a film of The Crucible opened. account of his political activities during the Miller spent much of 1996 working on the 1930s and was then asked to reveal names. screenplay for the film. In 1999, Death of a Miller refused to do so and he was found in Salesman was revived on Broadway and was contempt of Congress. He was fined $500, once again a huge success, winning a Tony for sentenced to 30 days in jail, blacklisted and his best revival. Three years later Miller was US passport was revoked. However, less than a awarded Spain‘s Principe de Asturias Prize for year later his conviction in 1957 was Literature as the undisputed master of modern overturned by the court of appeals which drama. found that Miller was misled by the chairman of HUAC. After this, Miller began working on In 2004, Miller opened his final play, Finishing The Misfits, a film starring Monroe and Clark the Picture, at the Goodman Theatre in Gable. Shortly after the premier, Monroe and Chicago. A year later he died at his home in Miller divorced and a year later Miller married Roxbury. In his lifetime Miller won seven Tonys, his final wife, photographer Inge Morath. an Olivier Award, an Obie Award, the John F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Seven years later, After the Fall was produced. National Book Award and the Jerusalem This play reflected Miller‘s own experiences Award. Despite the hard economic and during his marriage to Monroe and reunited societal times Miller wrote in, he continued to him with Kazan. The show opened at the Anta write and produce works that have been Theater in Washington Square Park. In 1965, studied for decades and considered some of Miller was elected International PEN‘s (an the greatest plays in American history. organization dedicated to promoting literature in society) president, the organization‘s first
POST-SHOW ACTIVITY: Death of a Salesman has been produced all over the world since it was first produced in 1949. Why do you think this play has been so successful? Do you feel that everything in the play is still relevant? Why or why not? Which parts affected you the most? Why do you think the play lives on? Discuss your answers with your classmates. Page 8 FIRST REHEARSAL NOTES
When rehearsals for a show begin, The Rep Rosenthal as the scenic designer. He‘s done this always hosts a first rehearsal event. At the first beautiful set. One of the things that we wanted rehearsal the director discusses the play and to do was make it so it was fluid. I‘m not a great what he or she hopes to accomplish. Mark fan of the turn table, if you will, and we wanted Clements, Artistic Director for The Rep, is to come up with something that will allow us to directing the final show in The Rep‘s 2010/2011 move. These two tracks move backwards and Season and here is what he has to say about forwards and for the final part of the requiem Death of a Salesman... this moves back and will entirely leave the stage and leave a hole in ―This is the third time I‘ve been the ground for the associated with this play. It is like grave. It is a one of those plays that is a tremendous design. theatrical version of having Dark When I went to see Side of the Moon or Abbey Road Todd in his studio in in your record collection. It‘s a Chicago to look at play that I think inspired me to the white model, want to work in the theater more and it hasn‘t than any other play. I argue that changed much it is, if not the best, one of the since then, I walked best plays to be written in the in and it really took last 50 years, maybe more. I think my breath away. I it‘s a play that has could see how significant The set model for beautifully it‘s going importance and it Death of a Salesman. to flow. We also has had more At left, the part of the have a terrific influence than set that will track lighting designer, probably any other back and forth Jeff Nellis, who did play. Not only has across the stage. Cabaret and he [Arthur Miller] Bombshells. He‘s written an epic play someone I‘ve really enjoyed working with. and this one, to me, I think he‘ll just paint beautiful pictures on like it is to many the stage. We have Rachel Healy, our people, speaks vol- marvelous costume designer, and she‘s umes. I do believe come up with some fantastic renderings. that when we are still here in a thousand years time, I can still see this play being performed There‘s a wonderful book called Salesman in along with the great canons of Shakespeare. I Beijing which Arthur Miller wrote in the late 1980s feel enormously privileged to be working on it about his journey with the play. He was asked to again. And there is a very good chance that I‘ll go and direct a production of Death of a get it right this time. I feel very confident about Salesman in Beijing, which was an interesting that because we have such a formidable cast challenge because Chinese actors were not with us… It‘s a dream cast; it‘s perfect so I‘m exposed really to western culture. It‘s witty and really excited about working with everyone. it‘s an important theatrical document whether you‘re interested in Death of a Salesman or not. Not only do we have a formidable cast, but we His notes are so concise and clear about have a great design team too. We have Todd Page 9 working on this play. Often times he would, and I touches into the heart of humanity and it‘s hard as well, hear that this is a depressing play, but I to like him sometimes, as annoying as he is and feel like it offers wonderful and uplifting indicative as he is, but everyone can feel some experiences with beautiful words and beautiful sense of empathy with him and relate our own acting. I hope that we will give the audience lives to him as well. I think it‘s going to be a something very uplifting. I think it‘s a play that is fascinating journey as we pull this text apart and incredibly hopeful. There are hopeful people at see how it‘s vital to us right now and how to the end. One thing that links all the characters in make it interesting and important to a new the play is that they all love Willy in some way, generation… I am looking forward to working on shape or form. Willy is a dreamer, he‘s an the piece and I hope we do it justice and fulfill optimist, he‘s a simple soul, a misguided soul. It the promise that we can deliver this show.‖
And here’s what Arthur Miller has to say about be muscled into position. By the next morning I Death of a Salesman... had done the first half, the first act of two. When I lay down to sleep I realized I had been weep- ―With [the play] A Streetcar Named Desire, ing - my eyes still burned and my throat was sore Tennessee Williams had printed a license to from talking it all out and shouting and laughing. speak at full throat, and it helped strengthen me I would be stiff when I woke, aching as if I had as I turned to Willy Loman...I had known all played four hours of football or tennis and now along that this play could not be encompassed had to face the start of another game. It would by conventional realism, and for one integral take some six more weeks to complete Act II… reason: in Willy, the past was as alive as what was happening at the moment, sometimes I did not move far from the phone for two days even crashing in to completely overwhelm his after sending the script to [director Elia Kazan]. mind. I wanted precisely the same fluidity in the By the end of the second silent day, I would form [of Death of a Salesman]. have accepted his calling to tell me that it was a scrambled egg, an impenetrable, By April 1947 I felt I could find such a form, but it unstageable piece of wreckage. And his tone would have to be done in a single setting, in a when he finally did call was alarmingly sombre. night or a day. I did not know why. I stopped ―I‘ve read your play.‖ He sounded at a loss as to making my notes in our Grace Court house in how to give me the bad news. ―My God, it‘s so Brooklyn Heights and drove up alone one sad.‖ ―It‘s supposed to be.‖ ―I just put it down. I morning to the country house we had bought don‘t know what to say. My father...!‖ He broke the previous year. off, the first of a great many men - and women - I started writing one morning...[and] wrote all who would tell me that Willy was their father. I day until dark, and then I had dinner and went still thought he was letting me down easy. "It‘s a back and wrote until some hour in the darkness great play, Artie. I want to do it in the fall or between midnight and four. I had skipped a few winter. I‘ll start thinking about casting." He was areas that I knew would give me no trouble in talking as though someone we both knew had the writing and gone for the parts that had to just died, and it filled me with happiness.‖
POST-SHOW DISCUSSION: Discuss the technical aspects (costumes, set, props, lights and sound) of the show with your class. What did you especially like? Was there anything that you didn‘t like or didn‘t make sense? Would you have made any changes in anything? Why? Write down some of your thoughts and share them with your classmates.
POST-SHOW DISCUSSION: Throughout the play, flute music is heard. What do you think is the significance of this? Why do you think Miller chose to have a flute versus any other instrument? Discuss your ideas with your classmates. Page 10 THE AMERICAN DREAM
Picture this: an immaculate two story house We have seen freedom from strict government with shutters, a beautifully groomed lawn and rule, freedom from slavery and more. Yet it garden, a white picket fence, a husband and seems that few people are achieving the wife outside sipping lemonade with their two American Dream. Despite everything that has children playing with their dog on a bright and been conquered, the people of America are sunny day. Seem unrealistic? For most, not quite accomplishing as much as they probably. Yet, for many this is the would like. In 2010, the unemployment rate in quintessential picture America was 9.9% of the American and currently the Dream and over time national debt is it has changed for approximately $14 everyone. One of the trillion. The average main themes of household income in Death of a Salesman 2009 was around is the quest for the $58,000. Approxi- American Dream. In mately 77% of Ameri- recent years, the cans graduate from term has often been high school, but only interpreted to mean 28% of Americans making it big or have graduated being extremely from college. Racial successful. However, inequalities still exist in does achieving the our country and American Dream As some immigrants enter America, the Statue others are discrimi- truly mean being of Liberty is the first thing they see. For many, she nated against for rich? Or is there more is the iconic symbol of America and of the their religion. to it? American Dream. As America contin- The American Dream ues to change over began with the birth of America; forever set in the decades, so does the definition of the stone in the Declaration of Independence: American Dream. Here are what some people ―…all men are created equal… with certain believe: inalienable rights‖ including ―life, liberty and ―I look forward confidently to the day the pursuit of happiness.‖ This dream is at the when all who work for a living will be very core of our identity as Americans. Life in one with no thought to their America offers personal liberties and separateness as Negros, Jews, Italians opportunities unlike any other nation in the or any other distinctions. This will be the world. The belief that hard work leads to new day when we bring into full realization opportunities, new economic and social the ‗American Dream‘ – a dream yet freedoms and a better way of life resonates unfulfilled. A dream of equality of across all American citizens, no matter age, opportunity, of privilege and property status or race. widely distributed.‖ The American Dream has manifested in – Martin Luther King, Jr. different ways throughout America‘s history.
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―The essence of the ‗American Dream‘ - Almost twice as many single parents is the understanding that we are here (52%) as married parents (27%) report on this earth and in this land for a they are not living the American higher purpose: to discover—and Dream. develop—to the fullest of our - More than half of renters (52%) and God-given potential.‖ 28% of home owners find they are not – Steve Forbes, President of living the American Dream. Forbes, Inc. If so many people feel that they are not living ―What the American people hope— the American Dream, what is hindering them what they deserve— is for all us, from achieving it? One of the main reasons is Democrats and Republicans, to work financial stability. America‘s economy is still through our differences; to overcome recovering from a recession with many people the numbing weight of our politics. For struggling to find employment and maintain while the people who sent us here steady income. Others believe that the have different backgrounds, different educational system is not adequate and does stories, different beliefs, the anxieties not teach students to be independent and they face are the same. The aspirations hard working citizens. The majority of they hold are shared: a job that pays Americans say the government is to blame. the bills; a chance to get ahead; most Over 70% of Americans feel that the of all, the ability to give their children a government is not doing enough to help better life.‖ people achieve the American Dream. Without – President Barak Obama cooperation between the different branches So, how many people are indeed achieving of government and political parties continually the American Dream? According to the in conflict, citizens feel that their chances of National League of Cities not many believe being successful are diminished. they are. After polling Americans in 2004 this is So what is the American Dream for 2011? What what the NLC discovered: are Americans striving for? Is it money? - Fifty-three percent of African- Success? Fame? Equality? Or just a sense of Americans said they are not living the accomplishment? How will you know when American Dream; 36% of Hispanics and you have achieved the American Dream? 32% of Caucasians have the same view.
PRE-SHOW ACTIVITY: What do you think it means to be successful? How will you know when you‘ve made it? Answer these questions and then think about the obstacles you might need to overcome? How do you think you‘ll handle these issues? Share your thoughts with your classmates.
POST-SHOW ACTIVITY: Everyone‘s idea of being successful is different depending on age, race, culture and more. Find three other people to interview about what they believe it means to be successful. You could speak with a parent, a sibling, someone older or younger than you. Share what you have discovered with your classmates. Why do you think that people‘s ideas of success are different? Do you think that in 50 years from now the definition of success will change? What do you think it might be at that time? Write down your notes and share them with your classmates. Page 12 MILLER’S INSPIRATIONS FOR SALESMAN
Article courtesy of Goodman Theatre
Death of a Salesman began as a short story Miller described Newman as a man who was that Arthur Miller wrote at the age of 17 while ―a competitor at all times, in all things, and at he was working for his father‘s company. The every moment.‖ Miller said that his uncle saw story told of an aging salesman who cannot ―my brother and I running neck and neck with sell anything, who is tormented by the his two sons [Buddy and Abby] in some horse company‘s buyers and who borrows change race [for success] that never stopped in his for the subway from the story‘s young narrator. mind.‖ He also said that the Newman After finishing the story, Miller household was one in which wrote a postscript on the you ―dared not lose hope, manuscript saying that the and I would later think of it as real salesman on whom the a perfection of America for story is based had thrown that reason…It was a house himself under a subway train. trembling with resolution and Many years later, on the eve shouts of victories that had of the play‘s Broadway not yet taken place but surely opening, Miller‘s mother would tomorrow.‖ The Loman found the story abandoned home was built on the in a drawer. foundation of this household. In his autobiography Manny‘s son Buddy, like Biff in Timebends, Miller related that Miller‘s play, was a sports he found inspiration for that hero, and like Happy Loman, short story and the play in his popular with the girls. And like own life. Miller based Willy Biff, Buddy never made it to Loman largely on his own college because he failed to Miller in 1988 discussing his uncle, Manny Newman. In study in high school. In autobiography in Paris fact, Miller stated that the addition, Miller‘s relationship writing of the play began in with his cousins was similar to the winter of 1947 after a chance meeting he Bernard‘s relationship with Biff and Happy in had with his uncle outside the Colonial Theatre Salesman. As Miller stated: in Boston, where his All My Sons was having its ―As fanatic as I was about sports, my pre-Broadway preview. Miller described that ability was not to be compared to meeting in this way: [Manny‘s] sons. Since I was gangling ―I could see his grim hotel room behind and unhandsome, I lacked their him, the long trip up from New York in promise. When I stopped by I always his little car, the hopeless hope of the had to expect some kind of insinuation day‘s business. Without so much as of my entire life‘s probable failure, acknowledging my greeting he said, even before I was sixteen.‖ ‗Buddy is doing very well.‘‖
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In Timebends Miller described Manny‘s wife as enough to keep them going, one of the one who ―bore the cross for them all‖ them makes it and swings to the moon supporting her husband, ―keeping up her calm on a thread of dreams unwinding out enthusiastic smile lest he feel he was not being of himself.‖ appreciated.‖ One can easily see this woman Surely, Willy Loman is such an actor, getting by honored in the character of Linda Loman, ―on a smile and a shoe shine,‖ staging his life in Willy‘s loyal but sometimes bewildered wife, an attempt to understand its plot. who is no less a victim than the husband she supports in his struggle for meaning and Because he was so deeply involved in the forgiveness. production of All My Sons, Miller did not give the meeting with his uncle more than a Miller met many other salesmen through his passing thought, but its memory hung in his Uncle, and they influenced his perception of mind. In fact, Miller described the event as the all salesmen. One man in particular struck spark that brought him back to an idea for a Miller because of his sense of personal dignity. play about a salesman that he had had 10 As Miller stated in Timebends, this man years previously—the idea that he had written ―like any travelling man…had, to my as a short story. In April 1948 he drove to his mind, a kind of intrepid valor that Connecticut farm and began to write the play withstood the inevitable putdowns, the that would become Death of a Salesman. As scoreless attempts to sell. In a sense [all he sat down before his typewriter in his 10 x salesmen are] like actors whose 12—foot studio, he remembered ―all I had was product is first of all themselves, forever the first two lines and a death.‖ From those imagining triumphs in a world that humble beginnings, one of American theatre‘s either ignores them or denies their more famous plays took shape. presence altogether. But just often
PRE-SHOW ACTIVITY: If you were to write a story inspired by someone, what would it be about? Who would you pick as your inspiration? Pick someone you know or you‘ve met briefly and come up with a short story inspired by them. Why did you pick this person? Share your story and thoughts with your classmates.
WORKS CITED AND FURTHER READING
Miller, Arthur. Timebends: A Life. New York, Penguin: Bigsby, Christopher. Arthur Miller: A Critical Study. 1995. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Longley, Robert. Two Thirds Feel American Dream Harder to Achieve. 1 October 2004. Miller, Arthur. Salesman in Beijing. New York: Viking About.com. 7 March 2011.
Interview courtesy of Cindy Moran, PR Director. LE: This play was written post-WWII. It also flashes back to the year just prior to the beginning of Lee E. Ernst, long-time Rep Resident Acting the Great Recession. Salesman is filled with Company Member and inaugural parallels, of every stamp. Miller was a genius at Lunt-Fontanne Fellow, will be tackling the iconic reducing his material to universal concepts and role of Willy Loman under the direction of Artistic exquisitely familiar-seeming people and events. I Director Mark Clements. don‘t see how a person Rep audiences are can sit in the audience for familiar with Lee‘s Death of a Salesman and brilliance and versatility as not think, ―I know these an actor as well as his people. I know what they amazing ability to are talking about. I feel transform himself for his what they are experienc- wide-ranging theatrical ing. I am inextricably roles. Whatever role he bound to this story.‖ tackles, the same care and attention to detail is CM: Were you a fan of the present as well as a desire playwright Arthur Miller to explore the emotional before you were cast? truth of the character he Are there any other Arthur is embodying. Lee spared Miller plays that have you a few moments from his performed in? busy Death of a Salesman LE: When I was a rehearsal schedule to sophomore in high school, I played Happy in a answer a few questions from Cindy Moran, The scene from Salesman for my Honors English Rep‘s PR Director. Class. My best friend played Biff. We were Cindy Moran: Death of a Salesman is instantly hooked on Miller, and when we considered a classic of American theater, but performed the scene, so were our peers. Then, do you find a contemporary relevance in the while at the North Carolina School of the Arts, I story? What might that be? did the scene again, this time as Biff. I‘ve explored a bit of what it‘s like to be the children, Lee E. Ernst: There are many, relative, thematic and that is already enriching the experience as I threads in Death of a Salesman, but the most attempt to bring Willy to life. I also was lucky resilient might be The American Dream itself, the enough to be in All My Sons here at The Rep, promise that a person can be what he or she with an amazing cast, including Deborah wants in this world. Through the Loman family, Staples, Jon Daly, Jenny McKnight, and we are reminded that nothing is cut and dried, featuring stunning performances by Jim Baker and that fulfilling a dream requires a great deal and Rose Pickering as the Kellers. I also had the more than merely desiring a particular outcome good fortune to be in Joe Hanreddy‘s produc- in life. tion of The Crucible a few years back, with CM: Are there any parallels between when the another outstanding cast, Rose and Jim play was written and now? Pickering, Jim Baker, Peter Silbert, Torrey Hanson, Page 15
Elizabeth Ledo, Lisa Joyce, John Kishline, curious interest in nutrition and vitamins . . . Deborah Staples, Richard Halverson, to name a CM: Laura Gordon plays your wife Linda Loman. few . . . and Laura Gordon and I played John Have you played any married couples before? and Elizabeth Proctor. It was one of the most Does your working relationship as Resident satisfying productions I had ever played in. Acting Company Members help some in the CM: When Mark Clements asked you to play rehearsal process? Willy Loman, is this a role you’ve always wanted LE: I love working with Laura Gordon. She is a to tackle? Have you ever been in another great treasure of The Rep. Yes, we‘ve played so production of Salesman? many married couples over the years that a LE: No, I have never been in a full production of check out person at the local grocery store Salesman before and I have never seen it on once stopped me to congratulate me on a stage. I saw a couple of film versions years ago, performance, then commented that it must be but I will get to know this play by wrestling with it, nice for me to get to work on stage with my speaking the lines, and feeling the force of its wife, Laura Gordon! She and I have played ideas nose to nose with the other actors. Willy opposite each other for about 20 years, and Loman is a role that people have brought up to that experience goes a long distance when you me as one they thought I should play, or should have to convey familiarity, depth of want to play, but I always thought I was too understanding and genuine concern for a young for it and that it was something I would person onstage. It‘s so much easier when that think about later in my career. As I began to person is your friend and you really do care research the role, however, I realized that it is a about them, and that is true now of so many of monster. Miller refers to it in the same breath as the actors I am currently working with. We have Hamlet, because of its sheer magnitude and the formed strong bonds, as friends and colleagues, unrelenting nature of Willy‘s trajectory and over many years, and the richness of our struggle. I now liken it to Lear, who is supposed relationships in life become interwoven with the to be 80 years old, but no actor can play the fabric of the play. role at 80 because of the incredible demands. CM: What are you hoping audiences will take That explains why Lee J. Cobb played the origi- away from this play? nal in his thirties, Dustin Hoffman, in his late for- ties, and even Frederic March took it on a little LE: We don‘t have to take. Miller gives. He truly early. I believe he was 53 at the time. I no longer does. Shakespeare and Miller have come up in worry about this being a premature assignment. the same sentence more than once thus far in our brief rehearsal process. Arthur Miller is not CM: You’ve had a wild crazy ride with roles this merely a genius and a great playwright, he is a year at The Rep from Cabaret’s Emcee, to Bob deeply human, provocative, proud, Cratchit, to Leon and Nick in Speaking in compassionate, simple and complex presence Tongues. How do you prepare for an iconic role in our world. He has a voice which expresses the like Willy Loman? human condition, and not only in America, as LE: Mentally I‘ve been preparing by reading a his Chinese production can attest, but the lot of Miller‘s thoughts about the play. The most universal human condition. What Miller has seminal for me at this point is Salesman in given me, and what I know he will give to Beijing, Miller‘s account of a production he anyone who hears his plays, is a sense, not of directed in China on the heels of The Cultural entitlement, but a sense of belonging. He makes Revolution, during The Reagan Era. Physically, us feel, if only for a moment, that we are in the I‘m trying to put on a few pounds, and stay out presence of clarity, and purpose, of self, and of the gym; I don‘t think Willy is the kind of guy that gift of perspective becomes a living part of who starts his day with push-ups, core work and who we are and how we conduct ourselves as a protein shake . . . although he does have a we move forward into our lives and dreams. VISITING THE REP Milwaukee Repertory Theater is housed in the Milwaukee Center at the corner of Wells and Water Streets, downtown. Our building was formerly the home of the Electric Railway and Light Company. This name is still carved on the wall outside.
You‘ll enter on the Wells Street side into a large, open space. Our Ticket Office will be visible on your left as you come through the front doors. The large space is the main hub for the businesses that share this building: a bank, an office tower, the Pabst Theater and the Intercontinental Hotel. If you walk into the center of this area, you‘ll see a staircase on your left. You will take this staircase to the Quadracci Powerhouse lobby.
Inside the lobby are restrooms, water fountains, and a coat check. If you decide to bring a snack, please know that food and drink are NOT permitted in the theater. However, you can leave things (at your own risk) at the coat check and enjoy them outside the theater during intermission. Most plays have one intermission that is about 20 minutes long. You might also want to look for signs in the lobby which give the full ―running time‖ of the play.
For more information on our Education Programs and our productions, please visit our website at www.milwaukeerep.com
Programs in the Education Department receive generous funding from:
The Einhorn Family Foundation MPS Partnership for the Arts GE Healthcare MPS Partnership for the Humanities Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors Northwestern Mutual Foundation The Harley-Davidson Foundation Park Bank Helen Bader Foundation The Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation Target Johnson Controls Foundation WE Energies
―You need three things in the theatre – the play, the actors and the audience – and each must give something.‖ – Kenneth Haigh
Theater is described as a collaborative art form. The success of a production relies upon every member of the process: playwrights, directors, designers, technicians, actors and the audience. Plays require audiences to give a new life to performances through their careful attention and enthusiastic reactions. The audience has an active role to play and the actors rely on you to be respectful and attentive. Through your observation of sets, costumes, lighting and the work of the actors, you‘ll be better able to follow the story and enjoy its live presentation. You are important in the final performance and your participation is what makes this process worthwhile.
Milwaukee Repertory Theater Education Department http://www.milwaukeerep.com/education/outreach.htm Jenny Kostreva, Education Director Rebecca Witt, Education Coordinator [email protected] or 414-290-5370 [email protected] or 414-290-5393